Probe Dostum case under no pressure, Americans tell Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): American officials on Tuesday asked the Afghan government not to come under political pressure in investigating allegations against first vice-president Abdul Rashid Dostum.

The VP is accused of ordering sexual and physical abuse of a political rival, Ahmad Eschi, in northern Jawzjan province after a buzkashi game, an issue that triggered a political crisis.

William R Brownfield, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and US ambassador to Afghanistan Hugo Llorens, told a joint press conference at the US Embassy in Kabul that narcotics produced in Afghanistan were the cause of the war’s continuation.

Llorens said the allegations against Dostum were serious and the Afghan government should investigate the charges carefully and in a transparent manner. He said the government should not come under pressure in investigating the case in order to show the world the country was committed to the rule of law.

“Our government’s view is that the Afghans have the right that their humans rights are respected and the law in enforced on all,” said the US envoy.

Gen. Dostum has left the country for Turkey after the allegation of rape and torture by his political rival Ahmad Eschi, a former Jawzjan governor.

Eschi had alleged that Dostum attempted to rape him before commanding his bodyguards to sodomise him with a rifle, while a cameraman filmed the abuse.

The Attorney General Office has been investigating the allegations against Dostum, who entered a new political alliance with two political parties in Turkey.

For his part, Brownfield said the cultivation and production of drugs in Afghanistan had a major role in keeping the insurgency alive and asked the Afghan government to take strong measures in this regard,

He said the Taliban were not fighting for power or religion but their only aim was to increase their share in income from the drugs. Brownfield said he met Afghan officials and foreign officials based in Kabul about the drug menace and suggested strengthening of anti-drug police.

Drugs production has increased in Afghanistan despite spending billions of dollars on the campaign to counter the threat. A Pajhwok report says poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 25 percent since 2001.